Aphrodite
By Tatiana Pahlen

Amidst peninsulas of Scylla and Charibda
On the foamy crest of sunny waves,
the marvelous sirens
composing sonnets
and choking with chuckles
Laying wax mermaids.
Sweet songs lured sailors to their demise
with crystal sound, clear as the salty tears
of women who lost their men to the seas,
It's their tears the ocean spumes and whirls.
In my emerald eyes
you may catch a whirlpool of surf
where souls once drown,
slipped off the earth.
Follow my opiate voice, a naval almighty;
Set free your fright;
it's me, Aphrodite!

First written in Russian in 1982.
Translated into English on June 22, 2000.

June 22, 2000

Copyright © 2000 Tatianyc. All Rights Reserved.